Artificial lift equipment such as electric submersible pumps (ESPs) may be deployed for any of a variety of pumping purposes. For example, where a substance does not readily flow responsive to existing natural forces, an ESP may be implemented to artificially lift the substance. To receive power, an ESP is connected to a cable or cables. In some instances, the length of such a cable or cables may be of the order of several kilometers. A cable may also include one or more motor lead extensions (MLEs) spliced onto the cable. For example, where the cable includes three conductor cores for powering a motor, a MLE may be spliced onto each of the conductor cores. Length of a MLE may be, for example, on the order of tens of meters or more (e.g., about 20 meters to about 100 meters).
Some examples of available ESP cables include those rated at about 3 kV, about 4 kV or about 5 kV. For commercially available ESP cables, about 5 kV may be considered a present day upper rating limit for high temperature downhole cables (e.g., due to a lack of electrical stress relief layers, etc.).
As may be appreciated, ESP configurations, operations, etc. can depend on cable rating or integrity. As an example, reliability data for an ESP cable may be primary in estimating a mean time between failure (MTBF) for an operation. Failure of a cable can increase non-productive time (NPT), repair and replacement costs, etc., especially for deep installations (e.g., where over a kilometer of cable may be deployed).
Various technologies, techniques, etc., described herein pertain to cables, for example, to provide power to electrically powered equipment positionable in a well.